Stocks extend record climb Dow industrials rise 35 points, to 6,255

Kodak among the stars

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks prolonged a six-day advance, sending the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq composite indexes all to records yesterday.

Prices gained strength from the opening bell and never flagged, as shares of Eastman Kodak Co. reached a high and semiconductor manufacturers soared. Philip Morris Cos. benefited from a pension fund endorsement.

The Dow industrials rallied 35.78 to 6,255.60, extending a climb that's seen the 30-stock average gain 3.9 percent since Nov. 1. Photographic film maker Kodak notched the biggest gain, sprinting $1.625 to $82.625 and pushing up the Dow by 5 points. Walt Disney Co. also rose $1.625, to a record $70.25, and Philip Morris gained $1.50 to $99.375.

The Dow industrials set their 35th record of 1996, bringing the year's gain to 22.3 percent.

In the broader market, the S&P 500 index added 1.05 to 731.87, its 33rd record of the year. Gains in oil drilling, tobacco, metals and entertainment companies fueled the rally.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 5.16 to a record 1,262.67 as Stewart & Stevenson Services Inc., Tyson Foods Inc. and U.S. Robotics Corp. saw the largest percentage gains.

Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners by 7 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume was a smaller-than-usual 354 million shares because of the Veterans Day holiday.

The Russell 2,000 index of small-company shares rose 1.14 to 345.70; the Wilshire 5,000 index climbed 12.75 to a record 7,082.63; and the S&P mid-cap index gained 1.29 to 250.24. The American Stock Exchange market value index lost .66 to 579.73.

Maryland stocks rose, led by PHHCorp. and Lockheed Martin Corp., raising the Bloomberg Maryland Stock Index, a list of 100 companies with operations in the region, 1.35 to 152.28.

Kodak led the Dow industrials as investors anticipated rising profits this year and next. The shares also benefited from a recommendation from CS First Boston, which named the Rochester, N.Y.-based company its "featured stock of the week."

Semiconductor stocks climbed for a ninth day, bringing the Philadelphia semiconductor index's gain in the period to almost 16 percent. After the market closed, a trade association said computer chip makers received $110 in new orders for every $100 of chips shipped last month, the first time this year they exceeded the $100 benchmark in new orders.

Shares of Marlboro cigarette maker Philip Morris were helped by a decision by College Retirement Equities Fund to reject a shareholder proposal to sell all the fund's tobacco stocks.

UST Inc., maker of Copenhagen and Skoal snuff and chewing tobacco, gained 75 cents to $30.625. The company announced plans to buy back up to 20 million shares after it completes its current repurchase program.

Disney leaped $1.875 to a record $70.375. The movie studio and theme-park operator raked in $35 million in ticket sales during the first weekend of release for its Mel Gibson blockbuster, "Ransom."

Lockheed Martin Corp. jumped $1.625 to $90.25 yesterday on Friday's news that it won a $1.6 billion Air Force contract to build five satellites for an early-warning system to detect missiles.